Torture Essay Research Paper Torture is defines

Torture Essay, Research Paper

Torture is defines as the intentional use of physical or physiological pain to gain advantage over an individual. Torture has been around since the times of Ancient Greece and is still around today. Punishments aren.t near as harsh as they used to be back in medieval times. (1) The only punishments we have now are jails, the punishments there were in medieval times were numerous and downright inhuman. Torture would keep criminal from doing something wrong again, assuming he lived through the torture. The punishments we have today are laughable and dumb. Medieval torture was a good way to extract confession, obtain information and intimidate others in to co-operating and or confessing. The methods of torture involved cruel devices that were not only intended to inflict extreme pain, but also permanently disable the victim. (2) Witches and condemned prisoners usually took the fall of the crime to escape any method of torture. During the time of the middle ages, torture was proven the most effective way to extract confession from convicted prisoners. In many ways, the church was also seen as one of the founders of torture in the Spanish inquisition.

Torture has been considered an art form in some countries. Victor Hugo once said, .The guillotine is the ultimate expression of law, and its name is vengeance.. The executioner, in the theater of the guillotine, has a very special role. He is the first one to walk on stage and the last one to walk off. The executioner is the only permanent member after he and the victim and their short uneasy relationship as he releases the rope. (4) The guillotine was one the most popular spectacles to the people in the middle ages. The decapitation of the enemies of the people was used as celebration. The tools used for torture range from completely pointless and humorous to flat out excruciating. (3) Some tools were used to embarrass while others were to severely punish people and others were to torture a person with classified information to the point of pain where the victim would just lie so the his misery would just end. The iron mask was a mask that was bolted shut. The mask usually displayed the face of something funny, like a pig or a boar. You had to sleep, eat, and walk around with this iron mask stuck to your head. This wasn.t really torture, it was usually used for people that talked too much or complained about society. The nags bridle was a device that was locked over peoples mouths to prevent them from talking, if the person still talked, it was removed and replaced with one with spikes around the mouth area. This really wasn.t a light torture, but it was a lot lighter than others such as the pears, needles, thumbscrews, bamboo, and painful cuts, these tortures were to just hurt you. Pears were pear shaped metal object that were inserted in the victims mouth and or anus. After the device was in place, a screw at the top of the pear could be turned, causing the pear to open up. (4) The needle torture was very, very painful. Huge needles were pierced through certain parts of your boy and left there. The executioner would leave the victim like this. For if the victim tried to remove the needles, muscle and skin tissue would begin the rim, even with the slightest movement. The thumbscrews were a very popular technique that was used to get people to talk. The victim.s thumbs were placed upon the device and tightened like vice. The thumbs would be crushed until a confession as disertained. (3) The painful cuts torture is very crude. The executioner would give small paper type cuts all over the body, and then roll in salt. The shock of pain sometimes killed some of the victims. (1) The ordeal of three is one of the most gruesome and least known of all torture. The victim is cut open, then a Gila monster, a live one, is sewn inside the victim then the carcass of a dead buffalo is opened up and the victim is sewn in, and left to die. (2) The hook is another gruesome torture in which the victim is impaled on a hook and hung for everyone to see. The Spanish horse was one of the nastiest ways to die. A spike pole is pushed into the anus of the victim then put on his feet to stand. The victim dies of being impaled by his or her own body weight. The Columbian necktie is when the victim.s throat is slit open and the tongue of the victim is pulled through the opening. The breast ripper cut into, then tears the flesh and removes the breast of women accused of witchcraft. (4) The cats paw, very painful, had razor sharp hooks usually applies to a small handle that were employed to tear the flesh from the bones. The head crusher, much designed like the thumbscrews, slowly apply pressure to the skull and inflict extreme pain and leave the victim in its grasp for hours. The heretics fork was mainly used upon people suspected of heretics, was pointed on both sides and was driven into the lower jaw and into the sternum of the victim. (3) The iron maiden encased its victim within a rack of spikes. The iron maiden was more a killing implement than of torture. The spiked chair, like the iron maiden, had spikes on it and when the victim sat upon if the natural weight caused the spikes to dig into the flesh. (2) The wheel, a very painful way of torture, used often was when the victim was laid across firm boards upon the ground. These boards were positioned so that the victim.s joints and limbs were not directly supported. The tortu